Rage boys give their tonsils a good airing.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
This fixation on matters ‘spiritual’
Sep 9th, 2010 5:45 pm | By Ophelia BensonPaula Kirby says she was, at first, impressed by the pope’s letter to the Irish about the child-rape problem.
How many politicians or corporations have been able to bring themselves to say, ‘You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry’? I was impressed. (On reflection, perhaps more impressed than I should have been, given that statements of contrition trip lightly off the tongues of those who repeat them daily in Mass or in the Confessional, and are told that repentance is all that is required to release them from guilt.)
Exact, as they say in Sweden. The contrition sounded entirely empty and in fact insulting, to me, for that very reason, but then I’ve been soaked in the malfeasance … Read the rest
An apostate on Park 51 and reasonable criticism 
Sep 9th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Let us ask the important questions about problems within Islam instead of weird arithmetic about the distance from Park 51 to Ground Zero.… Read the rest
Johann Hari to Britain’s Catholics
Sep 9th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Ratzinger refuses to let any police officer see the Vatican’s documentation, even now.… Read the rest
Paula Kirby on the Vatican and sin versus crime
Sep 9th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
What is a crime against a mere child compared with a crime against God?… Read the rest
Romania tries to tax witches and fortune tellers
Sep 9th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A law where witches and fortune tellers would have to produce receipts, and would also be held liable for wrong predictions.… Read the rest
Why having chronic illness hasn’t turned me to god
Sep 9th, 2010 | By Amy ClareAs an atheist, I am often told that I shouldn’t criticise religion, as it offers comfort to people in difficult situations. When you suffer every day, the faithful tell me, you need the hope and meaning that religion gives you – the implication of course being that atheism is a luxury, something that only privileged, comfortable, healthy, able-bodied people can indulge in.
These same people are often surprised to learn that I have a debilitating chronic medical condition, and in fact I do suffer every day. And yet, I have still not turned to god. I still do not believe in an afterlife, despite the fact that in my Earthly life, I will probably never feel truly healthy or ‘normal’ … Read the rest
Statement by Ashtiani’s son
Sep 9th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“I ask the eight industrial countries and Turkey and Brazil and the entire world to continue the pressure against Iran.”… Read the rest
BBC replies to Maryam; Maryam replies to BBC
Sep 9th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Saying that stoning is no longer in existence in Iran or labeling Ms Ashtiani a murderer has direct bearings on her case.… Read the rest
Citizens of the world against flogging and stoning
Sep 9th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Islamist regime in Iran is killing Sakineh little by little, to demonstrate its continued existence.… Read the rest
The sexually abused dancing boys of Afghanistan
Sep 8th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Dancing boys are picked out at a young age by men who cruise the streets looking for boys among the poor and vulnerable.… Read the rest
The Convenience Marriage of Fundamentalism and Perversion
Sep 8th, 2010 | By Lauryn OatesIn a 2003 essay for Daedalus, Christopher Hitchens wrote that, “religious absolutism makes a good match with tribal feelings and with sexual repression—two of the base ingredients of the fascistic style.”
There’s no doubt that repressed sexuality is a feature of most religions, and the cause of many an unhappy union made under god’s banner. But less often discussed is religion’s facilitative role to sexual perversions. The more fundamentalist the dogma, the sicker the stuff taking place in between the sheets.
Take the bacha baz of Afghanistan for instance. The bacha baz are men who take boys as lovers, or more accurately, as repeated rape victims. Over the years I’ve worked in Afghanistan, there has always been hushed … Read the rest
Zeal of the X syndrome
Sep 8th, 2010 1:03 pm | By Ophelia BensonI googled zeal of the convert syndrome, out of curiosity, even though it’s pretty self-explanatory. The meaning is pretty self-explanatory, but I was curious about what and whom it’s applied to. The answer is: lots of things. Islam, Zionism, Bush/Fox News/Palin derangement, Stockholm syndrome, Yvonne Ridley syndrome (funny that one syndrome refers to others, but apparently it is so).
So anyway, does new atheism fit? Sure, probably. Clearly a lot of things fit, so why wouldn’t gnu atheism? It has aspects of “a movement,” it is in some ways political, so sure, it probably has aspects of zeal of the convert syndrome too.
But I don’t think that’s the source of my “zeal,” at least (assuming for the sake … Read the rest
The smugness files
Sep 8th, 2010 12:30 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe Telegraph is rubbing its nasty hands in glee (yes I know newspapers don’t actually have hands – they have gills) about yet another scientist saying ew ick about yet another scientist who missed an opportunity to credit god for making something out of nothing.
[Susan Greenfield] criticised the “smugness” of scientists who claim to “have all the answers”… in a BBC Radio 4 Today programme discussion about [Stephen] Hawking’s views. Last week he angered many religious believers by saying science “can explain the universe without the need for a creator”.
Says the Telegraph, self-righteously and bullyingly – and in fact smugly. The Telegraph smugly assumes that scientists and others are not supposed to “anger religious believers” by attempting to … Read the rest
Congo rape victims estimate rises again
Sep 8th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The estimate has risen from 150 to 240 to more than 500.… Read the rest
HRW says India should ban degrading rape “test”
Sep 8th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Many Indian hospitals routinely subject rape survivors to forensic examinations that include the unscientific and degrading “finger” test.… Read the rest
Jesus and Mo discuss that wack guy in Florida
Sep 8th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
What to do about such intolerance and barbarity? Mo has a suggestion.… Read the rest
Joseph Hoffmann asks: should atheism be studied?
Sep 8th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
We are enshrining mystery when there is no mystery. We are saying “Who could possibly know?” when there are plenty of people who know.… Read the rest
Susan Greenfield calls atheist scientists “smug”
Sep 8th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“When they assume, rather in a Taliban-like way, that they have all the answers then I do feel uncomfortable.”… Read the rest
Open letter to the BBC
Sep 8th, 2010 | By Maryam Namazie
BBC Sunday Live invited me to join its debate on whether ‘it is right to condemn Iran for stoning’ on 5 September 2010 via webcam. During the debate, the programme allowed only two interventions via webcam (that of Suhaib Hassan of the Islamic Sharia Council and Mohammad Morandi of Tehran University – both of whom were in support of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani’s stoning and/or execution). I (who had presumably been invited to defend Ms Ashtiani and oppose stoning in the debate) was never given the opportunity to speak.
To the BBC’s Sunday Live Programme
I am writing to ask that you rectify gross inaccuracies regarding Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani’s case and that of stoning in Iran in your upcoming programme.
Presenter… Read the rest
